Abstract

Natural antioxidants are phytochemicals that neutralize free radicals, a damaging atom that trigger cells oxidation and destroys it. Morinda citnfolia L., or known as Mengkudu is proven to possess substantial quantity of antioxidant compound. Known to be sensitive to light, temperature, and oxygen, the common preparation of Mengkudu may induce excess degradation of antioxidant compounds. Furthermore, direct intake of natural antioxidants may be at the disadvantage due to the instantaneous consumption effect which contributes to the loss of its catalytic properties. Hence, the encapsulation of the antioxidant compound is essential in order to prevent such outcomes. In this study, the microparticles were produced by spray drying method using mixture of carrageenanjxanthan gum and Mengkudu extract as the feed emulsion. The statistical response of RSM was used to assessed ANOVA and determine the optimum parameter of Mcore:Mwall ratio, inlet drying temperature and feed flow rate by studying the response of DPPH, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) , encapsulation yield (EY), moisture content (MC), and particle size (PS). It has been shown that inlet drying temperature and Mcore:Mwall has significant effect on most of the responses studied, while feed flow rate only caused major effect on total phenolic and moisture content. Morphological study of carrageenans coated powders using SEM demonstrates round and smooth outer surface particles with a diameter of 6-13 Âµm. Whereas, xanthan gum coated powders formed more irregular particles with rough surface at a mean diameter of 15-32 Âµm. In vitro release study showed that Mengkudu microcapsules could regulate antioxidant release. This study shows that stable microparticles containing antioxidant can be produced in a single step by spray drying and may be helpful to the pharmaceutical application of Morinda Citrifolia L.